I Feel That Dispensary's Are A Rip Off

UncleBuck

Well-Known Member
... a legal grower who in their back yard has control over every thing could do it as well for just as cheap but most likely better since it is in the back yard.
not so fast.

ommp prohibits any public display of your plants. unless you live in the middle of nowhere, that means you have to keep your plants out of sight of your neighbors and the street. which means construction of a greenhouse. those ain't cheap.
 

mcpurple

Well-Known Member
yeah, because that is why the ommp was implemented....so people could get free weed. :roll:

has nothing to do with getting medicine to patients that need it, it is so you can get free weed.
they are perfectly within the law to do so. they are entitled to reimbursement for supplies and utilities used to produce your "free" medicine.
shit it wasnt brought up for people to sell and buy it either. and a med patient i am sure could have got it before they were med patients for the same dam price as a dispensary.

other people you have bitched at for wanting to make money by satisfying the market demand for meds have told me you were a felon.

i'm just saying you'll likely get nothing as far as return on investment and walk away with a respect for how much work and sweat equity goes into even the simplest little grow.

but good luck risking your freedom in the process. i'll say to you the same thing my dad said to me when i got my first credit card: "you're playing with fire, shithead". no insult intended, just warning you.
sounds like we have a cop on RIU then, cuz i dont recall telling any one i was a felon. ( i dont think)
and i am not investing anything so if something does happen i lose nothing. except some self dignity cuz i did not prove my point.

and WORK and sweat, i love being outdoors its only gonna be something that is no different to me. all thats really involved is walking,a small amount of digging and hand watering, that is not that hard i have a harder time taking a shit some times. it wont take much man hours.
i think you hate me UB all you do is hate, but thats cool. the world needs them.

and also you keep mentioning my Freedom, why is this. its like you some how know im gonna get caught or something.
and you some how knew i was a felon.
 

UncleBuck

Well-Known Member
shit it wasnt brought up for people to sell and buy it either.
no, but the creation of the ommp opened up a demand in the market. demand is met with supply.

sounds like we have a cop on RIU then, cuz i dont recall telling any one i was a felon. ( i dont think)
even if my friend didn't tell me, you have mentioned it a few times in reference to possible stricter laws for the ommp, ones that might be harsher on or exclude felons.

and WORK and sweat, i love being outdoors its only gonna be something that is no different to me. all thats really involved is walking,a small amount of digging and hand watering, that is not that hard i have a harder time taking a shit some times. it wont take much man hours.
it will take plenty of hours, you will get little reward if any, and by your logic you should have to give it away for free.

you want to come over and mow my lawn and pull weeds for free? no? well i don't want to invest my time and money to grow someone else's meds for free either.

do you also get this angry at fine restaurants who charge $28 for a plate of pasta when you could go to schlotzsky's and get it for $4 with unlimited breadsticks?
 

mcpurple

Well-Known Member
not mad at all.

just sit back,chill and watch man.

oh and dam right id take the 4 dollar plate, fuck spending that much on some bullshit. im not a picky food man.
by me a plate then ill come pull them weeds
 

0011StealTH

Active Member
not so fast.

ommp prohibits any public display of your plants. unless you live in the middle of nowhere, that means you have to keep your plants out of sight of your neighbors and the street. which means construction of a greenhouse. those ain't cheap.
are you one of those guys that buys everything from the CATALOG of sears? lmao i can go to home depot and build a green house with just searching online and a good budget u can make majic son,
 

guy incognito

Well-Known Member
i was calculating based on my own experience as well.

one bag of fox farm for $14 (i can buy for as little as $12.50, but need to spend $2.50 on gas to get it, so the $14 bag is cheaper in the end) can fill 3 of my buckets. i do 6 buckets, so 2 bags per cycle = $28. add perlite, which is $18 for a huge bag that mixes 6 buckets. so $28 + $18 = $46 for one go around that does not pull a pound a month, as your original calculation said. if you want to pull a pound each month, double that.

don't forget the gas money required to get you to the store and back. and i believe that gas goes into a car, which costs money to buy, insure, and maintain.

don't forget that the plants take up a certain percentage of the space of the home, which costs money to rent or buy.

and don't forget that tents are not free and do depreciate, just like lamps, fans, and everything else (a good accountant always factors in depreciation).

and lights don't hang magically from the sky, you need hardware to do so. and you need to go to a store to get it. which costs money as well.

do you grow indoors in the summer? be sure to account for the air conditioning, which takes up many kilowatts.

do you water your plants with free water, or does it come from the tap? do you pay a monthly water bill and use a certain percentage of it on your plants? factor that in.

ever get bugs, mold, etc? factor in the cost to control those issues.

in any case, the calculation i come to is generally in the $105- $120 per ounce range for top shelf, indoor meds.

that is giving away my labor for free, which is in the range of 20-25 hours per week.
I live 3 miles from the home depot and there are 2 hydro stores on the way. My car gets 30mpg, but ill say 20mpg since its city driving. It's all irrelevant anyway because I drive by that location so frequently I can stop without making a special trip. A special trip will cost less than $2 in gas anyway.

I already bought, insured, and maintained my car before I ever started growing. It's cost is not, and should not be factored into the cost.

The operation does occupy an entire bedroom. For me personally it was not an issue, im not currently using that bedroom. When I move I will make sure to purchase a large enough house that I can set up a decent size hidden operation and still have room to entertain, have kids, etc. This is a real hidden cost that I have not factored into my calculations.

I didn't forget the price of tents, fans, lights, etc. I purposely left those out. They do depreciate, but I think the cost can be easily recouped within 1-2 harvests, then harvests from that point on are gravy.

My lights hang from chains and loops made from wire coat hangers. Less than $5 materials to hang all lights and I will never need to replace them.

I do grow indoors and will need to run an air conditioner. Even with the maximum sized air conditioner I could run on a circuit, if it ran 24/7 I could not double my electric usage.

My water comes out of the tap, but is essentially free. For 2 people in the house it runs around $65 for a 3 month period. I don't know what portion of that is plant use, but based on previous water bills it is close to $0. By far most of that water is used in showers, laundry, and cleaning dishes. Plant use is negligible.

Yes had bugs, no mold. That harvest was a wash. Now I prevent both by maintaining proper grow room conditions. Haven't had another problem.

I still don't see how you come up with $105-120 for indoor. Maybe if I double all my input costs including labor then add a bit on to recover my start up costs I could get to $120. But this is a final number that incorporates labor (at twice my estimate, as well as twice all my estimated materials) and a $25 premium on top of that to recover start up costs. $25 profit on 16 ounces would be $400/month to recover money spent on tents/fans/etc.

Maybe $25/oz isnt enough of a premium to recover my investment in a timely manner. The market certainly dictates the price, and I don't let my premium ounces go for $125 anyway. Only to select patients. If someone outside of that wants some I would charge bit of a premium. But even $10/g is $280 an ounce and far more than a reasonable mark up. $10/g would be price gouging. $20/g is criminal.
 

guy incognito

Well-Known Member
Again, I don't live in a med state, nor know what the going rate of product from a licensed distributor is. All I know is economics, and I can tell you marijuana prices are highly price elastic with respect to demand, and in the end it's the consumer that determines the prices. If I did live in a med state, I would either buy from the dispensaries, or if I had a problem with their prices I would grow my own, I wouldn't complain about their prices, just the same as I wouldn't go to a store and complain about their prices.
So prohibition would explain why you think the prices are reasonable. Once you take risk out of the equation (or at least reduce it greatly) by making it legal the price should drop significantly. Someone as well versed in economics like yourself really shouldn't have needed someone to point that out.
 

ziggittyzag420

Active Member
20/g where im at,i laughed at this forums title for a good 10 min..i wish i could just walk into a safe place, look at a bunch of strains,than choose my liking.Instead i have to meet my dealers in alleys,housing projects,etc.to the O.P i dont know why you just dont find another dispensary,its legal where your at,you have it WAY better than some people,be grateful your not buying off some shady banger who possibly could just rob you for your money(than your broke with no bud).
so essentially indoor bud should be much cheaper than outdoor.
outdoor would be cheaper no?indoor you have to use electricity(not free:roll:) .outdoor you have light,wind,and rainwater,you dont get an electric bill for your plants outdoors,so wouldnt that necasarrily mean less $ for outdoor vs.indoors
 

UncleBuck

Well-Known Member
are you one of those guys that buys everything from the CATALOG of sears? lmao i can go to home depot and build a green house with just searching online and a good budget u can make majic son,
go ahead and calculate the cost of building a 13' tall by 13' wide by 36' deep greenhouse and get back to me.

homedepot.com

i plan on using 1'' pvc, rebar, 2x4's, and 6 mil plastic along with a fair amount of duct tape and clamps. take a look at what that adds up to and report back, soldier.
 

UncleBuck

Well-Known Member
I live 3 miles from the home depot and there are 2 hydro stores on the way. My car gets 30mpg, but ill say 20mpg since its city driving. It's all irrelevant anyway because I drive by that location so frequently I can stop without making a special trip. A special trip will cost less than $2 in gas anyway.

I already bought, insured, and maintained my car before I ever started growing. It's cost is not, and should not be factored into the cost.

The operation does occupy an entire bedroom. For me personally it was not an issue, im not currently using that bedroom. When I move I will make sure to purchase a large enough house that I can set up a decent size hidden operation and still have room to entertain, have kids, etc. This is a real hidden cost that I have not factored into my calculations.

I didn't forget the price of tents, fans, lights, etc. I purposely left those out. They do depreciate, but I think the cost can be easily recouped within 1-2 harvests, then harvests from that point on are gravy.

My lights hang from chains and loops made from wire coat hangers. Less than $5 materials to hang all lights and I will never need to replace them.

I do grow indoors and will need to run an air conditioner. Even with the maximum sized air conditioner I could run on a circuit, if it ran 24/7 I could not double my electric usage.

My water comes out of the tap, but is essentially free. For 2 people in the house it runs around $65 for a 3 month period. I don't know what portion of that is plant use, but based on previous water bills it is close to $0. By far most of that water is used in showers, laundry, and cleaning dishes. Plant use is negligible.

Yes had bugs, no mold. That harvest was a wash. Now I prevent both by maintaining proper grow room conditions. Haven't had another problem.

I still don't see how you come up with $105-120 for indoor. Maybe if I double all my input costs including labor then add a bit on to recover my start up costs I could get to $120. But this is a final number that incorporates labor (at twice my estimate, as well as twice all my estimated materials) and a $25 premium on top of that to recover start up costs. $25 profit on 16 ounces would be $400/month to recover money spent on tents/fans/etc.

Maybe $25/oz isnt enough of a premium to recover my investment in a timely manner. The market certainly dictates the price, and I don't let my premium ounces go for $125 anyway. Only to select patients. If someone outside of that wants some I would charge bit of a premium. But even $10/g is $280 an ounce and far more than a reasonable mark up. $10/g would be price gouging. $20/g is criminal.
you may have already bought, paid for, and insured the car, but is it not a 'supply' or 'utility'?

you may have just used a spare room in your house, but does the grow nonetheless take up a percentage of space in that house?

the hanging your lights question was leading you to think about all the hardware and gidgets that eventually get consumed during a grow.

my water and sewage bill is $65 monthly, so i am not as lucky as you are.

maintaining proper grow room conditions means preventative care, often. even so, you can still run into issues that call for reactionary care.

anyhoo, just pointing out how one can easily make the case for cost accounting. i think we both agree that about $5 a gram ($140 an ounce) i reasonable and fair to both grower and user.
 

beardo

Well-Known Member
I want to start by saying that dispensary's are a huge if not the biggest rip off we have ever seen and here is why.
nothing has change in fact things have gone worse now that we have the biggest MIDDLE man ever. see before lets just say the marijuana got shipped from all over the place mexico, Hawaii, Colombia. you get it. also the quality of the product was not the best since it came in bricks and god knows what that brick went through just to make it to the united states and of course be sold for profits.
so the prices in the street lets just say it goes for $20.00 dollars a gram but that cover all the cost and of course some profits.
Now when the dispensary don"t have to continue to charge 20.00 dollars a gram like how the street dealers do why? because
states that allowed medical marijuana also allow patients and care givers to grow POTENT QUALITY good genetics marijuana in there own closets so that takes the risk of getting some swag weed that had to cross the border.
as there is no more middle just the grower and the dispensary now when you go buy your gram for 20 dollars was it really worth it now? i mean i see the argument about how hard it was to get marijuana in the united states and thats the reason of those high prices. but now what is the excuse? you guys still charge the same amount of money for a product that doesnt face the same issues of the past and its cost.
I know all of the people that own dispensary weed never wana see marijuana completely legal and i see why it will slash all of there profits
people open your eyes there is just things that are too out of control
whats the difference between a greedy CEO and a greedy dispensary owner?
i dont see none. being LEGAL or illegal
we are just paying too much for a weed that is exactly what it is a WEED
im sure if everybody will get tired of over paying and i hope we can build a better system than our current.

in conclusion i feel that the only way to stop this LEGAL DEALERS. thats is to open our eyes and grow our own supply and stop relaying on government structures to tell us what and how and where to do our medicine

i hope i get some thoughts on this
as this is my point of view you dont have to agree with me just put some thought and research into it
You use a lot of words but fail to make a good point or argument. A dispensary is a business, businesses need to turn a profit or at least break even to stay in business, this means bringing in enough money to cover what is going out. Pizza hut charges more than the cost of ingredients for a pizza does that make them a rip off? And when is the last time you saw the guy at pizza hut give someone their pizza free because they couldn't afford it? I see the despensaries giving out compassion sacks= Free MMJ to those truly in need. If you don't like the dispensary don't go. If you don't like Capitalism or want to live in a Democracy please move out of the United States, we have enough people trying to ruin it already.
 

beardo

Well-Known Member
They need to invent a customer black list so people can ban you and know when you've been banned by other people or places, like a credit rating for customers so people can refuse to serve ungreatfull or problematic customers.
 

budlover13

King Tut
you may have already bought, paid for, and insured the car, but is it not a 'supply' or 'utility'?

you may have just used a spare room in your house, but does the grow nonetheless take up a percentage of space in that house?

the hanging your lights question was leading you to think about all the hardware and gidgets that eventually get consumed during a grow.

my water and sewage bill is $65 monthly, so i am not as lucky as you are.

maintaining proper grow room conditions means preventative care, often. even so, you can still run into issues that call for reactionary care.

anyhoo, just pointing out how one can easily make the case for cost accounting. i think we both agree that about $5 a gram ($140 an ounce) i reasonable and fair to both grower and user.
i can't argue with you there UB. Not at all.
 

rowlman

Well-Known Member
When I shut my grow room down for a reconstruction , I ran dry before my next harvest so I joined a Despensary in Lansing...fuckin expensive shit...but I have to say, top quality and very good variety of clean,well cured smoke...and I'm pretty picky...a 30 year smoker...but I happened to pass a place today in Jackson on my way out to Lansing...no mebership fee ( which is a fuckin joke to charge someone anyways!!)...very nice staff with Doc on hand for renewals and shit,...all the meds are the same price and you get a 48 hour guarraty...lol...the guy said if you r not happy, you can return the meds...lol...but true!!...it saved me a trip to Lansing and the prices were not that bad...15 a gram-45 1/8th-and so on..alittle cheaper the more you buy....NLxSkunk, Skunk #1,Chem-Something and a few others....not as good as my shit, of course, but not bad to get you thru a few days.Lansing=very expensive but top quality strains like Headband and a big variety...Jackson=much cheaper, but meds not as good

I agree...despensarys are a ripoff, but like the one I found in Jackson, the prices weren't that bad just to get ya thru a few days
 
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